Feeding Frenzy
Senior editor Patricia Sharpe, assistant editor Katy Vine, and others talk about this month's cover story, "Pit Stops."
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JNP: I learned that there's more variety to barbecue than I first suspected, that chains have made considerable inroads on a tradition I once regarded as the domain of the independent entrepreneur, and that mesquite may have surpassed oak and pecan as the wood of choice, at least in South Texas. Also, I discovered barbecue is being served in more upscale environments than it was six years ago.
KV: I can get awfully sick of meat, but I can regain interest if a piece of meat is good enough. And there is such a thing as a lousy fried pie.
MH: The better the place, the less you need sauce. At terrible places they use sauce to cover up the poorly cooked meat or the poor cuts of meat.
ES: I came to the conclusion that sauce is pretty irrelevant. If you don't start with good meat and good wood, you don't get good barbecue. The places that turned out to be the best, in my opinion, were the ones you could smell before you even pulled over. The old adage, "Where there's smoke, there's fire," rings true when it comes to good barbecue.
texasmonthly.com: What was the most interesting thing that happened to you while you were working on this story?
PB: I love driving around Texas, you can never tell what you might come across. I stopped to check my map in downtown Coleman and noticed a historical marker at the old library on the square. I learned that when the city couldn't afford a librarian in 1910 or so and the library was about to close, someone named Mrs. Miller volunteered to serve until they could afford a new one. She stayed there 41 years, always as a volunteer. I sat in my car for a long time, thinking of how she had spent her life, wondering if anybody in Coleman today had ever heard of her, and musing on the ravages of time.
JNP: Learning that I was leaving the magazine as a staff writer.
KV: My fingernails grew half an inch.
MH: Going to Mama Bobbie's in Waco, which was in an old gas station that looked abandoned (I only realized it was open because of the smoke rising from the 55-gallon drum pit to the side). I knocked on the door, and they said to knock on the window for service, so I did, but then they said to go to another window and knock on it, which I did too and then gave my order. Unfortunately, it wasn't very good, or the story would be better.
ES: Depends on your definition of "interesting." I got sick twice. I did meet a lot of cool people. And I noticed that the friendlier and happier the staff, the better the food.
texasmonthly.com: What is your favorite piece of meat? Why?
PS: There's nothing like a beautifully smoked pork chop, those can be celestial. But they're hard to find done just right. I do love brisket too, because it's just so Neanderthal. There's something about red meat that is inexplicably satisfying. It fulfills some animal desire. Don't tell my vegetarian friends. The two things I will never order are barbecued ham and turkey, which are beyond pitiful because they are pressed meat to start with, with a little smoke applied. Now a fresh, whole turkey is another thing. And one of the best things I ever ate was a wild goose that somebody shot and gave me. We had it smoked—fabulous.
PB: I have been loyal to prime rib at Kreuz Market in Lockhart since 1966.
JNP: The chop at McBee's in Pleasanton. I'd already judged it once, but as an afterthought after a run through the Brush Country and the Valley, I made a detour on the way to the house. It confirmed that it really is one of the best cuts on the Texas barbecue circuit.
KV: Brisket, because when it is done well, the texture is more satisfying than a T-bone or a chop and the flavor is more satisfying than the spice of a sausage.
MH: Brisket—you can really taste the smoke in it. The smoke in a well cooked piece of brisket permeates it. In other meats the smoke is just on the crust.
ES: Ribs. I just love the texture and shape, and of course, the fact that you eat them with your hands.
texasmonthly.com: Have you eaten barbecue since you finished reporting? If so, what and where?
PS: I haven't finished reporting yet. But I'm not sick of barbecue, either. When it's good, it's good.
JNP: I ate at John Mueller's [in Austin] last week. I'd just come back from Dallas, and I was hungry. It was better than I remembered. I had the brisket, a little pork loin, and some sausage. John Mueller's is like a road trip to a small town in Central Texas without leaving the city.
KV: I just ate some barbecue about two hours ago in the conference room. And I had some ribs last week at Hoover's in Austin.
MH: No way. Maybe next issue.
ES: Nope!
texasmonthly.com: In your opinion, where did you eat the best barbecue you've ever tasted?
PS: The pork chop at Kreuz Market in Lockhart, the brisket at Louie Mueller in Taylor, the sausage at City Market in Luling (and Smitty's and Kreuz in Lockhart), and the lean pork shoulder sausage at Lazy H Smokehouse in Kirbyville—oh, and the jerky there is fabulous.
PB: It's a toss-up between Louie Mueller in Taylor and the old Kreuz in Lockhart, before it had to move to a new location as the result of a family disagreement. The new Kreuz is plenty good, but it's hard to beat one hundred years of grease.
JNP: Luling City Market. Time and again, it blows away everyone else.
KV: I had some fatty brisket at John Mueller's in Austin that blew me away.
MH: Cooper's in Llano before going to see a six-man football game in Cherokee last fall—the meat, the smoke, the vibe, the company.
ES: Lazy H Smokehouse in Kirbyville.
texasmonthly.com: Is there anything you would like to add?
PS: Yes, I discovered that a good dry rub (salt, pepper) applied to the outside of brisket or ribs prior to smoking is the key to an interesting, tasty piece of meat. At a lot of places in the Panhandle, they don't use a rub, or very little, and the barbecue there is boring, boring, boring.
JNP: With this article published, I have now officially retired as a member of the Texas Monthly Barbecue SWAT Team. From here on out, I'm eating 'cue purely for pleasure. And, though it goes without saying, and as good as some of these commercial establishments may be, let it be known that I make the best barbecue in Texas.
ES: I never realized the ridiculous number of barbecue places there are in the state, and how many are just plain bad. Just because a place advertises "barbecue" does not mean that it has any standards. You have to be careful out there!
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